Hypor - a new era of genomic selection

Genomic Selection is a technique method developed by Hypor’s team of esteemed research scientists that have not only developed an innovative solution for the pig market, but have addressed the industry approach to genetic selection. With this new technique, Hypor now welcome customers into a new era of genomic breeding that integrates accuracy, greater understanding of DNA composition, and ultimately a more tailored approach, with a program that compliments current practice in the market.

Proof of principleAlready in the developmental stage of Genomic Selection in pig breeding Hypor invested in building a reference panel and setting up a proof of principle. The proof of principle was conducted to calibrate existing software packages and confirm it was possible to read DNA based on SNP-marker information. This proof of principle was used to evaluate if early predictions of performance, based on DNA-markers, were effectively reflected in later differences in actual performance. This was a very exciting process and confirmed Hypor’s belief in the benefits of Genomic Selection. With the reference panel data and DNA information from the SNP markers the software of Hypor’s breeding program has been adjusted. Genomic Breeding Values are calculated routinely today and used in the day to day selection of candidate animals as first breeding company in the pig industry.

Hypor expects that Genomic Selection will deliver 20-50% additional genetic progress in the maternal lines. In those lines the focus is skewed towards reproduction traits. These traits have a low heritability and take quite some time before they can be measured. For candidate animals in the maternal lines adding genomic information will lead to more accurate prediction of their genetic merit for the reproduction traits and more early in their life. As a consequence selection of replacement animals will be more accurate.